The present disclosure relates generally to telecommunications, and more particularly to cloud based mobile messaging spam detection and defense.
Mobile devices have become a ubiquitous means of communication. Cell phones are estimated to be at near 100% penetration in the United States, with approximately half of these devices being smart phones. Globally, over 1.6 billion mobile phones and 66.9 million tablets are in use. This increase in the use of mobile devices leads to an increase of communication via Short Messaging Service (SMS) and Internet Protocol Messaging (IP-messaging). These increases also allow for more mobile messaging exploits and abuses. SMS spam has risen 45% to 4.5 billion messages. Approximately 69% of mobile users have received text spam (also referred to as unwanted messages) in one year according to some accounts. In addition, the proliferation of IP Based Text messaging applications brings further growing vulnerability to mobile customers. Fake voicemail notifications have delivered malware that was identified as a Trojan designed to steal passwords and other confidential data. In addition, spam is spreading via various chat and messaging applications.
Defenses of IP-based mobile messaging spam vary across different service providers. Most providers allow customers to report spam activities. However, this method is known to have a low reporting rate and a high detection delay. Moreover, malicious users may manipulate such a defense system to cause denial-of-service of legitimate accounts.
Another issue is that mobile users tend to install multiple IP messengers as well as using SMS and Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) services simultaneously. Since most messenger providers are operated independently, they do not ensure equivalent levels of security. As such, the least secured app becomes the weak link and determines the ultimate security of the mobile device regardless of the performance of the anti-spam systems provided by the other apps. In addition, independent spam defenses from different providers render spam detection less effective because many spammers launch similar spam campaigns simultaneously on multiple apps and even through SMS and MMS.